Apr 30, 2012

Meeting of the Rotary Club of EurekaApril 30, 2012

Retired Judge Mike Brown was called upon to recite the
pledge and Dan Heinen gave us the invocation as the shadows grew shorter on
Greg Pierson’s year. He announced that
we would soon be hosting two new Exchange Students, a boy from Chile and a girl from Germany. They have homes for the first four months,
but after that, if you would like to share your house with a foreigner contact
Greg.

Dan got up again to say that the second fundraiser for the
year for Backpacks For Kids would occur on May 20th.

Greg produced a slide showing the batting cages we donated
to Eureka High. Our club gave them
$5,000 as part of the Sign Smith distribution for the year.

Carol Risch received a certificate of appreciation for her
work on the Small Grants committee. Grant
was 5 foot 6 inches. Greg Pierson, on
the other hand is so short that if the sign says “ You must be this high to go
on this ride” he’s out of luck.

Don Leonard’s granddaughter ran in the Foggy Bottoms 4 mile
run and came in 5th – not bad for an elementary school student. Don’s eagerness to share pictures of that
exploit on Facebook cost him $120.

Next up, a photo of Dale Warmuth dressed like a bumble
bee. Turns out, that’s his moniker from
his off road motorcycling days. His
other nickname is “The whizzer” which is why, if you go off road, you should
always wear shoes. $100 for Paul
Harris.

Hank Ingham’s name was called next, and a short search found
him near the podium-very near the podium.
Ingham was on a secret mission to a state that began with “F”. After some thought Greg guessed “Fort Worth”. Ingham had gone to visit his father, 91 year
old former Rotary President Harvey Ingham.
In spite of the fact that it was Rotary business, Ingham was
“recognized” for $95 and given a tape measure.
Life just isn’t fair.

Dan Price spent 2 weeks in Oahu
surfing with his son, and also went to visit his daughter who works in
Catalina. Sharks circled around his
wallet.

Don Smullin was asked to stand and be recognized, but he
quickly reminded our president that Pierson Construction was about to bid on
the St. Vincent De Paul restoration project. Suddenly, a free tape measure was awarded to
him .

Scott Guild, co-chair of the non-university scholarship
committee announced the names of five local High school students who were
receiving CR grants.

Gary Todoroff awarded the first Harvey Harper Vocational
Training Scholarship. Winning Students
were picked from over 300 applicants.

After a brief but tragic moment where tickets were drawn but
I didn’t win $10, the program started. It was once again time to award the
Wolford –Hegy Scholarships. It was the
35th year for The Wolford Scholarship, named for Radiologist Dr.
Wolford . The fund was started to
educate his children, and when they were grown the family repurposed the trust
to provide scholarships, 5 $1,000 awards each year.

The Donald Morris Hegy Memorial scholarship,
now in its 25th year, was created to honor Former Rotarian Bill
Hegy’s late son. $1500 is awarded each
year. Awardees will be working on such
diverse projects as Rock Salamander Locations, temperature data for salmon
habitat, and the behavior of river otters.
Here are the names of the winners: Hegy
Scholarship was Amy Patten. Wolford Scholarships were Rosealea Bond; Taylor
Cannon; and Ted Torgerson

The President then
announced that he was going on a trip.
He wouldn’t say where. Maybe Ireland wants
him back. While he’s gone several
ex-presidents will run meetings. I’m featured on May 14th.

Chuck Edwards brought his wife Jennifer and President Greg Pierson his wife Sharon. Other guests were A.J. Gonzales, Bruce Smith and Julia Hartwell.

Birthdays

Cindy Cree (10th), Mike Cunningham (9th), Bruce Emad (2nd), Matt Messner (2nd), David Parris (21st), Jack Rieke (23rd). Christian Hill was fined for not sitting at the head table in spite of being born April 9th ($10).

Anniversaries

Jim and Claire Hoff (April 9th) even though they now live in Texas. Greg and Cathy Cloney-Gardiner (16th-today—so what are they doing at Rotary!)

Announcements

Sally Arnot mentioned that next week are the final Eureka Rotary Fireside Talks. If you have not been yet, please make effort to attend: Tuesday at Scott Guild’s home; Wednesday at Fred Sundquist; Thursday at Lowell Mafia’s, all at 7:00pm.

Jeff Leonard encouraged us to sign up to get better acquainted with our Rotary exchange students. They are happy to go to various local activities or out to dinner and it need not be fancy. Sign up with Jeff.

John Bradley encouraged our participation in Backpack Buddy Night, Sunday May 20 at Cher-Ae Heights Casino in Trinidad, 6:30-9:30pm. To reserve tickets call 269 4335 or tickets are also available with Old Town Coffee, SHN Consulting Engineers and Food for People. All proceeds benefit the Backpacks for Kids nutrition program. Click here for more information.

Colonel Ron Pierre is Ombudsman Director for Employer Support of Guard and Reserve in California. He reported that returning veterans face a 30% unemployment rate. If you have questions about hiring a vet please contact Ron at rjpservices@gmail.com or 707 845 7910.

New Member

Past President Carlton Nielsen introduced our newest member Julia Hartwell. Julia works in the health care industry and enjoys her son, Hunter who is 3 years old. Past President Tim Gallagher mentioned the high level of ethics encouraged by Rotary –especially the need to put service above self. He urged her active participation in Rotary including weekly attendance.

Recognitions

Kathy Cloney-Gardiner was recognized for the state achievement award at Washington School. That will be a tape measure worth $145.

Eric Bergel was recognized for his work at the flamingo exhibit at the zoo and also fined $145.

Finally, Dale Stockly was recognized for attending the Masters Golf Tournament a few days ago. Dale was given a tape to measure the distance from the ball to cup and paid –you guessed it--$145 for the tape.

Program

Tom Schallert director of Northern California Community Blood Bank was our speaker. Tom served as president of Americas Blood Center in 2010-11 and will be speaking in Belgium in April 26/27 about USA blood banking and the Nigeria Safe Blood projects. Tom was president of our club in 1996-97.

He spoke to us regarding his recent trips (2010/2011) to Nigeria. Nigeria is in Western Africa and has 150,000,000 people living within its borders. The median age is 19 years old, and the median life span is 47 years, so Tom and his doctor friends were honored as very senior guests. He had many stirring pictures, including one of a malaria-stricken girl in Calabar. Among other things, he mentioned their efforts to encourage malaria prevention by using bed nets. He titled their mission in the power point presentation: “Toward Improved Blood Safety in Nigeria.” It seems from the extensive amount of information he gathered and shared with the club that there is much to improve about blood safety in Nigeria. Tom, along with the two physicians who accompanied him, certainly did their part to improve blood safety. One of the labs looked good, but nothing worked; they did their best to fix what they could. As an example of the problems that they are up against, in Nigeria lizards get into equipment and chew on the wires.

Tom spoke at a very huge church with 200,000 persons every week (Redeemed Mission in Lagos-Ibadan), and they had never heard of the need to donate blood. Tom showed pictures of many donor rooms and pointed out their lack of sanitation. He did however commend them for developing rapid spreading disease testing: it works when they do the tests. They lack centrifuges and reliable power sources, and much of the blood has not actually been tested whether or not it claims to be. Tom pointed out that some blood donors give so frequently they lack any red blood cells. Such donors should be receiving transfusions, not giving blood--but they need the money.

The areas of Abuja and the north part of Nigeria are full of violence. “Nollywood” is a great concern to many Africans who fear that Nigerian television corrupts many of the youth (sound familiar?). Street and political violence are a problem in Nigeria and Tom’s machine gun carrying bodyguards were testament to the unrest in the country.

So, the transfusion challenges are legion and to add to them, the demand is three times greater than the supply of blood. Nevertheless, Tom’s chief objective was to train some trainers. All together he and his crew trained over 200 persons in the course of 3 weeks.

Rotary has taken an interest in support of this program. As an example, the refrigerator bought by our club was installed when Tom was there at Ibadan. In spite of the many challenges on many fronts, Tom noted that the infrastructure is actually improving in many cities of Nigeria. They seem to be making progress--so hope springs eternal.

President Pierson informed the club that Corky Cornwell’s wife, Annie, was in a car accident where she broke her arm and her back in two places. She is able to get up with help but Corky requested our prayers. Also, Ken Stodder is recovering nicely from shoulder replacement surgery.

Ryan Fray led the invocation.

Susie Smelser announced the lack of visiting Rotarians.

Guests of Rotarians

Russ Harris introduced Chris Whitt of HAF.

Greg Foster Introduced Emanuel Rose.

Past President Carlton introduced Steve Lafferty.

Eric Bergel introduced student guests Tess Armstrong and Izzy Piland, of Eureka High School, who spoke about their fundraising program for Eureka High where businesses can review the entire year’s Student Government events and sponsor any ones they like at one time rather than being called multiple times. Sponsoring businesses will get lots of promotional recognition.

Birthdays and anniversaries are in the book, congratulations to all. Bruce Emad received a quality hammer for attending Rotary on his actual birthday.

President Elect Nancy Dean celebrates 6 years in the club this week and Bob Morse celebrates 7 years.

Lost Coast Rotaract’s President, Jennifer Kiniken (who is also Rotartact District Governor!), spoke about their upcoming entertainment event, “Lights! Camera! Murder!” to be held April 6th at 7:00 PM at the Sewell Gallery at 423 F Street, Eureka. Admission is $40 at the door and that includes 2, yes 2, drinks and Hors d’oeuvres! Contact them at lostcoastrotaract@gmail.comlostcoastrotaract@gmail.com If you want to be more than the character you already are!

President Elect Nancy Dean starts her fireside meetings tonight and really wants everyone’s input as she plans her presidential year. If you have not yet signed up, give Capt’n Hank an email sailorhank@pierson1.com.

President Piersonreminded everyone about the District Conference to be held in Fortuna on June 14th. Get you lodging booked before rooms run out!

Fred Griffith announced the current standings of March Madness. Jack Rieke and Jay Bahner's Kentucky plays Matthew Owen and Gregg Gardiner’s Kansas tonight for the national championship. The loser (if you call this losing) gets $1,000 while the winner pockets $1,500. Richie Whitaker pulls down an even $500 for losing in the Final 4 with Louisville while Bruce Emad and Glenn Goldan’s team, Ohio State, gets them $500 as well. President Pierson, Doug Lanning, Emad/Goldan and Rieke/Bahner also get $75 for owning teams that made it to the Elite 8. Thanks all for participating and raising $3,800 for our service projects!

'Much Ado About Nothing' was at NCRT on March 31st, although attendance was not great...although, Ted Loring, said the time they had was.

President Pierson reminded everyone that it is time to get new photos for the roster. Some are embarrassingly old, like this one here!

President Pierson informed the club about the Hero 2 Hire program. It is a great resource helping our returning veterans find employment. An employer can easily register the positions they have available and our veterans can search that database. The website is www.h2h.jobs . Please contact Colonel Ron Pierre at rjpservices@gmail.com for further information about this great opportunity to help our vets! In addition, Southwest Rotary will be having a program on the topic on April 20th. Check it out!

New Members

Diane Cipperley announced that there will be a 1923 Committee lunch on April 17th at the Sea Grill’s back room. Please join us and learn how to get the most out of Eureka Rotary!

Past President Kim Bauriedel went down to the District Assembly and was awarded the official plaque for his Global Alumni Award for Zone 25 signed by the RI president! Great job Kim!

The Spengler “Science Fair” Raffle was won by Secretary Dan Heinen and the second winner went undeclared until President-Elect-Elect Ziggy Ziegenfuss realized it might be his own!

President Pierson stood Secretary Dan Heinen on his feet. It's about time he got on his feet after lounging around for 2 weeks at the Breezes Resort on Curacao.

Dan gave such a glowing account of his time there, I’m beginning to think he is a shareholder! Anyway, he managed to save enough money on the package vacation that he generously donated $100 toward his Paul Harris Fellow. Thanks Dan!

Next up was Jeff Leonard. President Pierson mentioned that the prior week he put up a slide of internal organs and asked what this picture and Jeff Leonard had in common.

No one could guess that they were both missing their gallbladder. Jeff stood there, shook his head and stated, “Well I am sure glad you weren’t the president when I had my vasectomy.” President Pierson had nothing and his face flushed red as he heard the room begin chanting, “No Fine”, “No Fine”. He promptly told Jeff he could sit down.

Program

Today's program was on the Rotary Foundation and was presented by our International Service Director, Gregg Gardiner, President Pierson and International Project Guru and Past President Kim Bauriedel.

Gregg explained that the mission of the Rotary Foundation was to promote world understanding, good will and peace.

Our areas of focus are:

Peace and Conflict Prevention/Resolution Disease Prevention and TreatmentWater and Sanitation Maternal and Child Health Basic Education and LiteracyEconomic and Community Development

On the Polio front, President Pierson showed slides of the progress from 1988 through March 2012 and reminded us that we are *THISCLOSE * to ending Polio!

Additionally, the Rotary Foundation promotes Vocational Training by Group Study Exchanges between countries of young professionals. Our club will be hosting a GSE Team from Turkey the week of June 11th.

Our own Jim Hoff participated in the Ambassadorial Scholar program during his college years.

The Foundation also returns half of our donations after three years in the form of grants. Past President Kim Bauriedel noted that of the $377,000 District 5130 sent to the Foundation in 2007-2008, half went directly to international work and the other half, $188,000 went to our District. That money was used for District Simplified Grants, Matching Grants, Group Study Exchange and Scholarships:

Past President Kim then described a few of his many projects in Russia, including a school that needed renovation. The City finally restored the building because Rotary was on site providing needed equipment for the hearing impaired.

Before

After

Old and New Equipment

Through Rotary, this hospital was able to provide improved chemotherapy to these young cancer patients. Our club, using matching grant money from the Rotary Foundation, donated automatic pumps to dispense the treatment. Before, the parents would spend 2 or 3 hours each treatment injecting the chemicals with syringes.

And the last example was a tractor we purchased for a farm community to help them produce enough food for their own needs and also to sell.

Gregg Gardiner informed us that of our 142 members, 89 are Paul Harris Fellows, and of that number, 31 have multiple PHFs. He went on to note that our club was well below the district average of per capita giving during 2010-2011 and encouraged each of us to understand the great work being done by the Rotary Foundation, the District and our Club. The Rotary Foundation goal of “Every Rotarian, Every Year” helps make that work possible. We ask each member to be a Sustaining Member, which means that each of us commit to giving annually $100 to the Foundation and $20 to Polio Plus. That’s really only $10 per month!

President Pierson reminded the club that we will be Dark on April 9th for Easter and back on April 16th when our program will be Mike Jones and Chuck Petrusha on the History of the Rhododendron Parade.

John Bradley was recognized for sewing the Rotary Logo on sails like Betsy Ross and being boarded by the Coast Guard.

Glenn Goldan was fined $145 for being the ringmaster at the Arcata Sunrise fundraiser. He said he was able to tame the tiger but has never been able to tame the cougar.

Matt Messner was fined $145 for his two week trip to India and failing to visit Rotary International President Kalyan Banerjee while there.

Steve McHaney was fined $145 for all his travels for Winzler and Kelly.

Nancy Dean was fined $145 for allowing Monterey to run her NOAA office.

Program

Margaret Feinberg was the speaker of the day. She is on the Executive Board of the National Association of Evangelical Churches and writes the belief blog for CNN.Com.

She spoke about “Radical Generosity,” using the Bible and her own experiences with writing and communications. She encouraged us to maintain a high level of generosity in spite of the lean economic times.

She was thanked by the President and allowed to sign a book for library donation.

Upcoming Programs

The program for April 16 will be the History of Rhody Parade with Mike Jones and Chuck Petrusha.

If you have not brought in a new Rotarian recently, please consider who you know that would make a great Rotarian and bring them to a Monday meeting.

Final remarks from President Greg: “May God bless you this week as you bless others. Remember to wear your hard hat and be safe out there. Meeting adjourned.”

Hank Ingham reported on Mardi-Go-Braugh. It was rad. The club netted over $20,000! And, the slide show was hysterical, as usual. Checks were handed out to raffle winners. Tepid applause.

Birthdays and Anniversaries are in the book. Congratulations to all!

Ted Loring is desperate for volunteers for “Much Ado About Nothing” and for selling tickets. So, buy some…please!

The District Assembly is March 31st. The District Conference is in Fortuna in June.

India is now Polio free, in large part to Rotarians like yourself. Please make a contribution.

President Elect Nancy Dean awarded the Doris Niles Science Fair winner for Humboldt County. Our club has given over $100,000 to the Science Fair. Very nice!

Fireside meets are coming quick. Be sure to sign up so you can tell Nancy what Greg did wrong this year.

Eric Bergel introduced Ron Perry of Eureka High, who told us that students at Eureka High will start coming to our meetings for 4-5 weeks at a time to get more involved with our club. They will also help award small grants to senior projects. Katherine and Erin said they used to think Rotary was just old men, but now that we are giving them money to spend, they are pretending we are young, diverse and good looking.

Fred Griffith announced the payouts for March Madness. I had San Diego State, so I get nothing.

Greg Siler gave his craft talk. Hasn’t Greg been in the club for years? Local, two kids under 4, deep roots in our community. Financial advisor, rugby player, outdoorsman and father. Berkeley undergrad and MBA, proud member of our club. Welcome, Greg. And craft talks are scheduled for TWO minutes…..

Greg Foster introduced our program. He is trying to get a new airline to fly into Humboldt county from LA and is now a banker. It’s looking good. Somehow this cost Gregg $125.

They have award winning journalists and Lost Coast Outpost, a local news blog.

They have produced a documentary on the marijuana industry in Humboldt County, the Humboldt Chronicles. I see what you did there.

Patrick contends there’s an economic disequilibrium due to illegal marijuana.

High real estate prices, lack of qualified employees due to underground work, lack of entrepreneurial talent, and environmental damage, are all impacts of the illegal marijuana industry.

Since passage of Proposition 215, Humboldt energy usage has gone up 50%.

Patrick continues that our tax base is severely limited due to the underground nature of the marijuana industry, our international reputation is harmed, and organized crime is on the upswing.

Patrick believes the business community needs to get involved to address the issue in a practical manner.

A gift was given to our guests and the meeting ended on time.

Respectfully submitted,

John Harper

Jim and President-Elect-Elect Ziggy tabulate the earnings of our weekly Spengler Raffle. The Spengler Raffle funds are donated by our club to help fund the Doris Niles Science Fair through the Humboldt County Office of Education.

Backpacks For Kids

Backpack assembly is held during the school year at 4:00pm on Thursdays at Humboldt Moving & Storage on Albee Street in Eureka, between 14th & 15th Streets. For more information, please contact Mindy Bussman.